Check Out the Trailer

Like THE GODFATHER, BOOGIE NIGHTS brings a story of family into a sleazy world, but this time it’s the porn industry and not gangsters.

The most simple plot explanation is that the film follows the rise, fall and redemption of porn star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg, THE ITALIAN JOB). His real name is Eddie Adams and he comes from a family were his mother is verbally abusive. Rumors abound at the nightclub where he works that he has huge talent in his pants. Porn director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds, DELIVERANCE) takes Eddie under his wing and turns him into Dirk. If Jack is Dirk’s mentor/father-figure than veteran porn star Amber Waves (Julianne Moore, FAR FROM HEAVEN) is his surrogate-mother/lover.

The film chronicles the corruption of fame and money in many ways. Dirk, along with friends Reed Rothchild (John C. Reilly, CHICAGO) and Todd Parker (Thomas Jane, THE PUNISHER), sink into a drug-filled life of crime when their dreams of legitimate fame in the music industry go awry. The world of Jack Horner’s house seems like a constant orgy of sex and drugs, but it also serves as a true family life for wayward souls.

Director/writer Paul Thomas Anderson’s use of the flowing camera and well choreographed staging is amazing and poetic. Though the film is often very funny, the story has an underlying tone of sadness, for its characters have all lost a bit of their souls living in the corrupt world of the porn industry. Anderson was 27 when he made this film and displays an uncanny talent for detail, pacing and character. His understanding of the film medium is staggering.

To look at the cast is to marvel. Besides the aforementioned stars the film also includes Luis Guzman (COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO) as the club owner who desperately wants to break into the porn industry as an actor, Heather Graham (FROM HELL) in a career launching performance as the teenage porn star Rollergirl, William H. Macy (FARGO) as the sad producer Little Bill, Robert Ridgely (THE REF) as the film funder and pervert Colonel James, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle (HOTEL RWANDA) as reluctant porn actor and dreamer Buck Swope, Philip Seymour Hoffman (THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY) as gay production assistant Scotty J., Ricky Jay (HEIST) as the cinematographer Kurt Longjohn, Philip Baker Hall (RUSH HOUR) as the pragmatic producer Floyd Gondolli and Melora Walters (MAGNOLIA) as the ditzy porn actress and wife of Buck, Jessie St. Vincent. The large cast adds a fullness to the picture, fleshing out the world. The film never seems to step wrong over its entire 156 minute running time. Simply amazing. One of the best films ever made.